Chelsea Ladies star Drew Spence put her ongoing involvement in the Mark Sampson saga to one side to help drive her club to a season-opening victory over Bristol City in the Women's Super League.

Spence met with Katharine Newton, who is leading the investigation into allegations of bullying, harassment and racism against Sampson, on Friday but the issue didn't distract from her return for Chelsea on Sunday.

The England international scored the Blues' first goal at their new ground, Wimbledon's Kingsmeadow, before Fran Kirby, Maren Mjelde (twice), Magda Eriksson and Gilly Flaherty struck in a straightforward win for the WSL title hopefuls.

Drew Spence was a picture of happiness after ending a difficult week on a high by scoring

Eni Aluko was a second-half substitute and was all smiles as the goals kept on flowing

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes walks out onto the pitch in a week she has been linked with England

This summer has been a strange one for the Spring Series winners, one where Spence and team-mate Eniola Aluko — a second-half substitute here — have been at the centre of the Football Association scandal involving sacked England boss Sampson.

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes has been keen to keep that troubled water away from her preparations for the campaign, most notably by personally setting a plan to refuse media interviews for her England players on Sunday.

And it seemed to do a trick for the Blues, who put any opening-night nerves that might been linked to their debut at a new ground to one side to dominate Bristol City here with Spence and Karen Carney starring.

Spence had already put Gemma Davison through on goal for a one-on-one opportunity that was well saved 11 minutes in before she netted the opener herself two minutes later.

Carney, another England international, was the architect — her stunning whipped cross from the right finding an evasive Spence diving low to stick her header past goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley.

Spence celebrates giving Chelsea the lead after 13 minutes at Kingsmeadow on Sunday

Fran Kirby was also on target for the Blues as they made the perfect start to the WSL season

The 24-year-old, who has given a written statement to the FA backing the Sampson allegations first made by Aluko, resisted any temptation to replicate the running-to-the-bench celebration seen by England's Lionesses with their former manager which angered Aluko in a social media blast on Tuesday.

Bristol City looked to find a way back into the game but for all their intricate passing they lacked any real presence upfront with the threat of forward Lauren Hemp largely nullified.

England's newly-crowned Young Player of the Year did carve out one chance for herself, robbing her marker of the ball to face goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl alone, but the eventual shot was misguided and poor; well-saved by the Swedish stopper.

Kirby, on the back of her starring role in England's 6-0 win over Russia in midweek, was proving a nuisance for defenders again and although a 36th-minute strike was ruled out for offside a goal for Chelsea's No 14 looked inevitable.

It came just four minutes later, Kirby streaking through to capitalise on City defender Danique Kerkdijk's poor chest control from a chipped Katie Chapman ball before finding the bottom-right corner.

Maren Mjelde wheels away in delight after having made it 3-0 to Chelsea over the Vixens

Magdalena Eriksson crashes in a header from close-range to extend the hosts' advantage

Chelsea were relaxed and in control on their new home turf and they added a third early in the second half when Davison, wide on the left, stretched the play before crossing to the excellent Carney to head back into the path of Mjelde who finished well.

Aluko came on as a substitute for Kirby with 13 minutes left but it was centre back Eriksson who got the fourth goal, powering in a header from Carney's corner a minute later.

Mjelde added the fifth, stroking home a simple finish after Davison's fine run through the visitors' defence, before Flaherty tapped in at a free-kick for the sixth.

Even with Sampson gone, the saga surrounding his sacking goes on at the FA with the latest step to come in Monday's board meeting. But Chelsea's Ladies are making a good job of distancing themselves from the drama for now.

Aluko enjoyed a 13-minute run out as the Chelsea Ladies took total control of the game

The Chelsea Ladies squad came together at the end of the match to show a collective unity